i-TFTD #305: Sher Arz Hai

This i-TFTD owes to the contributions of Shuja Rahman. I envy people like Shuja (and Lax) who can quote an apt sher (shayari is a form of rhyming couplets usually in Urdu) in any situation.

Khiradmandon se kya poochhoon ke meri ibteda kya hai
Ke main is fikr mein rahta hoon meri inteha kya hai
(roughly translated as:
Why should I ask the wise, "Whence have I come?"
I am concerned with the thought, "What will be my end!")
-Sir Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Persian and Urdu poet, philosopher and politician from the Indian subcontinent (1877-1938)

Kaun kehta hai ke maut aayi to mar jaoonga
Main to dariya hoon samandar mein utar jaaonga
(roughly translated as:
Who says that when death comes I shall be no more?
I am a river, I shall descend into the ocean.)
-Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, legendary Urdu and English language Pakistani poet, journalist and author (1916–2006)

Partav-e-khur se hai shabnam ko fana'a ki taaleem
Main bhi hoon ik inaayat ki nazar hone tak
(roughly translated as:
From the sun's light the dew drop gets its education/end
I, too, await to receive the favor of a glance.)
-Mirza (Asadullah Baig Khan) Ghalib, classical Urdu and Persian poet from the Indian subcontinent (1797-1869)

____
These philosophical couplets have significant application in organizational change situations.

Instead of clinging to the past, one could focus on the future and what needs to be done. Vague apprehensions and fears hinder clear thinking and paralyze activity, with self-confidence one can face the uncertain future and be assured of finding one's growth path. Change and growth are natural processes, some pain and letting go is needed to usher in better circumstances.

i-TFTD #269: From the Nitwittersphere

Having coined a word for the title of this i-TFTD, I feel compelled to explain and enlighten you of its origin.
Twittersphere, of course, is the total universe of Twitter users and their output in the form of tweets.
A nitwit is a stupid person. A nitwitter as per urban dictionary is a person who irritatingly discusses their twitting frequently. Someone else has defined nitwitter as a person who writes hopelessly incomprehensible Twitter posts.
So, my contribution to the blogosphere is nitwittersphere. Sorry. Will do better next time.
Unlike the above gobbledygook, tweets on Twitter can be useful, funny and thought-provoking. Here are three for this edition of i-TFTD.

#269-1. @funnyoneliners: Today is the first day of the rest of the mess.

#269-2. @michaelmelcher: Your inbox is not your to do list.

#269-3. @r_ganesh: Doers are too busy to consult thinkers, who don't know or care to sell to doers or have action bias. Think I must do something!
____The first one is a variation of ‘Today is the first day of the rest of your life’. The second is about prioritization. Some people worry about not having time to prioritize and plunge into activity while some others agonize too long in synchronizing detailed to do lists in various gadgets! For both categories of folks, I recommend reading a short post at http://ribbonfarm.posterous.com/when-you-fail-to-prioritize-prioritizing. The third was my attempt to point out the irony in the artificial classification of people into thinkers and doers. I think we all do both though the degree and the domains may vary from time to time.

i-TFTD #243: On Discussing Effectively

#243-1. Nothing lowers the level of conversation more than raising the voice.
-Stanley Horowitz


#243-2. The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
-Joseph Joubert


#243-3. In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
-Anon


_____
Healthy debate based on principles, values, facts and logic is like oxygen for any society, including an organization. Too many people avoid arguments, and managers prevent them. One research study conducted on poorly performing teams found that there was a lot of argument amongst members of the team. They were surprised when they found that the successful, high-performing teams also had the same characteristic! I am sure the quality of debate in the two cases would have been different—quality in terms of content, issues being debated, tone and also how members behaved after the debate.

i-TFTD #215: Thoughts on Thinking

#215-1. Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
-John Kenneth Galbraith

#215-2. People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too.
-Christopher Morley

#215-3. It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.
-Rollo May

_____
Thinking deeply or differently does not easily come without effort. We are slaves of "default" patterns, formed at an early age. It seems to suffice for most of us in today's ultra-multitasking lifestyle.

Edward de Bono, though famous for propagating lateral thinking, has also done a lot of work in teaching better thinking of all types. K.R. Ravi has written a very readable and useful book called, "Thinking About Thinking" where he has debunked many typical remarks we make, showing the illogical thought processes behind them.

i-TFTD #152

#152-1. We build (software) systems like the Wright brothers built airplanes -- build the whole thing, push it off the cliff, let it crash, and start all over again.
-R. M. Graham

#152-2. Act as if everything you think, say and do determines your entire life - because in reality, it does!
-Laurelle Adrian

#152-3. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
-Leonardo DaVinci

____
A counterquestion to the first one is: the Wright brothers succeeded, didn't they? That too in a big way where many failed for centuries earlier.

The second one seems obvious but do we really remember or even accept it? Whenever we behave in a particular way knowing that it is not exactly the best course of action nor the best attitude to adopt, if we remind ourselves that ultimately there are consequences to everything good or bad, maybe we will change.

Only someone as sophisticated as DaVinci could come up with the profound third statement. I believe one has to progress in stages: from

-simplistic (simple due to lack of awareness and limitation)
to
-complex (sophisticated if polished, complicated if not)
before cycling back to
-simple (by choice).

i-TFTD #38

#38-1. Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter.

-Gilbert Amelio

#38-2. The key that unlocks energy is desire. It's also the key to a long and interesting life. If we expect to create any drive, any real force within ourselves, we have to get excited.

-Earl Nightingale

#38-3. The sign of intelligent people is their ability to control emotions by the application of reason.
-Marya Mannes

_____
In my view, the ancient debate about form versus substance has now settled somewhere in between -- both are important.

The second and third could appear to be contradictory to some. They are not. Desire, excitement, passion are pre-requisites for excellence. Intelligent people would channelize these "good" emotions for good purposes.

DISCLAIMER:
This message contains privileged and confidential information and is intended only for an individual named. If you are not the intended recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute, store, print, copy or deliver this message. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete or contain viruses. The sender, therefore, does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required, please request a hard-copy version.

i-TFTD #1

#1-1. In each of us are places where we have never gone. Only by pressing the limits do we ever find them.
-Dr. Joyce Brothers

#1-2. A good heart is better than all the heads in the world.
-Edward Lytton

#1-3. Triumph belongs to thought. Change your thinking and you change your life.
-J.P. Vaswani

_____
It's a strange process, how we form a self-image, how sometimes events force us to transcend our perceived limits and help discover a newer "us". Of course, we might choose not to find all such limits.

As we grow into adults, a strong preference for logic, rationality and practicality is advisable. With age, hopefully accompanied by maturity, our wisdom should be tempered with care for other living beings. We tend to forget this in the heat of an argument.